At the heart of the globalization of trade and of economies, estuarine cities are at the forefront of accelerating global change. They must confront the tensions generated by their demographic and socio-economic attractions and their ecological vulnerability linked to their location in trade flows, downstream of rivers and at the interface between land and sea. Using the examples of the estuarine cities of the Gironde, the Loire and the Seine and their specific challenges, such as climate change, flood risk, biodiversity, port flows and urban planning, this book analyzes their emerging trajectories guided by proactive governance of global change.

Table of Contents:
About the Authors xi Acknowledgments xv Introduction xvii Denis SALLES, Glenn MAINGUY and Charles DE GODOY LESKI Part 1 The Water of the Cities and the Water of the Fields 1 Chapter 1 The Governance of Socio-Ecological Interdependencies: The Landes du Médoc Water Catchment Area Controversy 3 Charles DE GODOY LESKI 1.1 Introduction 3 1.2 Drinking water supply in Gironde, the history of a transfer from surface water to deep groundwater 6 1.2.1 Under the Roman Empire: the administration of a city’s water sources in its estuary 6 1.2.2 The Middle Ages: the era of hydraulic and defensive withdrawal of the city 7 1.2.3 The hydraulic “Renaissance” in the 17th century: towards the golden age of Bordeaux fountains 8 1.2.4 From 1800 to 1850: the dark age of resource availability 9 1.2.5 From 1850 to 1950: towards extractivist geopolitics of water 10 1.2.6 From 1950 to the present day: the socio-technical anticipation of issues through the governance of the drinking water resource 11 1.3 Metropolitan territorial conceptions in the face of forestry references 13 1.4 The refinement of models and the rising criticism 19 1.5 Conclusion 23 1.6 References 25 Chapter 2 Ecological Engineering in a Controversial Drinking Water Production Project 27 Alain DUPUY and Aude VINCENT 2.1 The socio-hydrogeological configuration of the Landes du Médoc catchment area (Gironde) 28 2.2 An ecological engineering solution 30 2.3 How much of the extracted water must be reinjected? 32 2.3.1 Percentage efficiency of the water reinjected 33 2.3.2 Efficiency of the reinjection duration 34 2.3.3 Efficiency of the selected method to reinject the water 34 2.4 When and where should the extracted water be reinjected? 37 2.5 Conclusion 39 2.6 References 39 Part 2 Protecting Against Risks, by the Estuary, and for the Estuary 43 Chapter 3 Living in a City Exposed to Flood Risk: At What Cost(s)? 45 Jeanne DACHARY-BERNARD and Florian VERGNEAU 3.1 Residential location and risk as economic issues 47 3.2 Empirical strategy of the hedonic price model 49 3.3 Bordeaux Métropole study area and data 50 3.4 A multifaceted city 55 3.4.1 Confirmed metropolitan trends coupled with emerging rurbanization 57 3.4.2 A double effect of flood risk on prices 61 3.5 Conclusion 63 3.6 References 64 Chapter 4 The Ecological Restoration of Estuaries: Protection of People and Combating the Erosion of Biodiversity 69 Mario LEPAGE, Michael ELLIOTT, Cécile CAPDERREY and Henrique CABRAL 4.1 Habitats, biodiversity and ecosystem services 71 4.2 Causes of the ecological degradation of estuaries 72 4.2.1 Effects of rising sea levels 72 4.2.2 Effects of anthropogenic pressures on biodiversity 73 4.3 Ecological restoration of estuaries for the protection of biodiversity 76 4.3.1 Active and passive restoration 79 4.4 Examples of ecological restoration in estuaries 81 4.4.1 The marshes of Mortagne-sur-Gironde (France) 81 4.4.2 Mondego estuary (Portugal) 83 4.4.3 Scheldt estuary (Belgium) 85 4.5 Conclusion 88 4.6 References 89 Chapter 5 Sensemaking in the Face of Estuarine Flood Risk Mitigation 93 Jean-Paul VANDERLINDEN and Nabil TOUILI 5.1 The conceptual framework of narrative analysis 94 5.1.1 Stories of risk governance 95 5.1.2 Sensemaking as a source of narratives about change 96 5.1.3 A corpus of interviews on the risk of flooding in Gironde 96 5.2 Ethical theories invoked and associated meta-narratives 98 5.2.1 Deontology in terms of having respect for shared norms: the meta-narrative of deontological hype 98 5.2.2 Virtue ethics: the meta-narrative of “respect for justice” as a virtue 100 5.2.3 Consequentialism in risk reduction: the meta-narrative of ordinary risk governance 101 5.2.4 Consequentialism in terms of inequity: the meta-narrative of the questionable fairness of choices made 102 5.2.5 Deliberation ethics: the meta-narrative of the process that is to be improved 103 5.2.6 Ethics of nature: the meta-narrative of nature holds the keys 105 5.3 For deliberative risk governance 106 5.4 Conclusion 108 5.5 References 109 Part 3 When the Estuary Makes the City 113 Chapter 6 The Estuarine City as an Allegory for Changes in Solidarity 115 Thierry OBLET 6.1 Cleansing the metropolitan idea of the stench of its emissions and ecological irresponsibility 117 6.2 From the conquest of land to the recognition of territories 121 6.3 From equality to territorial cohesion 124 6.4 Conclusion 130 6.5 References 131 Chapter 7 Nantes and the Loire: Construction of an Estuarine City Faced with Port and Environment Challenges 135 Glenn MAINGUY 7.1 Emergence of the estuarine dimension: from the city of Nantes–Saint-Nazaire to the opening of the “Terre d’Estuaire” museum 137 7.1.1 From an institutional dimension … 137 7.1.2 … to a cultural and tourist vocation 139 7.2 When Nantes and the Loire drifted apart: a progressive denial of the city’s estuarine dimension 140 7.2.1 From digging a canal to filling in waterways 140 7.2.2 Departure from shipyards 143 7.3 Building a new relationship between Nantes Métropole and its estuary: the desire for the Loire 143 7.3.1 Integration of the estuarine dimension through heritage and industrial-port memory 143 7.3.2. The Great Debate: a participatory tool for reclaiming the Loire .. 145 7.3.3 Conférence Permanente Loire and Mission Loire: putting environmental issues related to the Loire on the agenda 147 7.4 Conclusion 149 7.5 References 150 Part 4 Anticipating the Future of Estuarine Cities 153 Chapter 8 Past and Future Socio-Ecological Pathways of the Seine Estuary 155 Gilles BILLEN, Julia LE NOË, Camille NOÛS and Josette GARNIER 8.1 The Seine estuary as a socio-ecological system 156 8.2 The successive phases of port traffic 159 8.3 The energy supply of the Seine basin 160 8.4 The contribution of ports to the agri-food system of the Seine basin 162 8.5 The era of globalized trade in manufactured goods 165 8.6 What is the future of the Seine estuary? 167 8.7 Conclusion 169 8.8 References 170 Chapter 9 Metropolitan Trajectories for Anticipatory Governance of Urban Biodiversity 175 Charles DE GODOY LESKI and Yohan SAHRAOUI 9.1 The challenges of an attractive city faced with ecological injunctions: contextual elements of emerging governance 176 9.2 The cognitive stakes of a collaborative territorial prospective 180 9.3 Scenarios of metropolitan trajectories: contrasted political–ecological footprints 183 9.3.1 Strategic scenario: “Dense City” or the Return of the Rhine Model (Scenario 1) 186 9.3.2 Dystopian scenarios: “city–nature opposition” (Scenario 2) and “city–nature interweaving” (Scenario 3) 189 9.3.3 Utopian scenarios: “radical ecological restoration” (Scenario 4.1) and “optimal reconciliation” (Scenario 4.2) 189 9.3.4 Transformative scenario: resilient city (Scenario 5) 191 9.4 Conclusion 192 9.5 References 193 Conclusion 197 Denis SALLES, Glenn MAINGUY and Charles DE GODOY LESKI List of Authors 203 Index 205